Faith Seeking Understanding

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Thankful for those who have gone before us, we should daily remember “…the equipping of the saints [that’s all Christians] for the work of ministry….”–Ephesians 4:12

Deuteronomy 6, verse 4, begins, “Hear” which calls God’s people to ‘hear and do.’ This begins the Shema, which Jesus and his disciples would have recited morning and evening. We are called to hear and do the Great Commandment, to love the LORD our God with all our heart and with all our soul [life] and with all our strength.

And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children,

and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates….

Now, who is the “you” who is to teach the children God’s commands? It is not the preacher; it is not the Sunday School; it is not the youth pastor. It is those who sit in the house, who go to bed there and wake up there, it is the parents of the children.

God gives to parents the distinct responsibility to teach their children God’s word. While there are other good things like Sunday School where they can learn, these things are the icing on the cake that parents bake. They are no substitutes for this sphere of responsibility that God entrusts specifically to parents.

… that you may fear the Lord your God, you and your son and your son’s son, by keeping all his statutes and his commandments, which I command you, all the days of your life…